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Plasma Weaponry
History The introduction of Plasma, and the later 'Phased' Plasma based weapon systems was one of SkyNET 's most clever, and at the same time foolish, technological breakthroughs. These weapons greatly increased the killing efficiency of its machines. Not only was the lethality, accuracy, range, and reliability improved over conventional weapons systems, there was no longer a need for machines to carry cumbersome, and vulnerable ammunition packs such as seen with the T-600 . This lessened the logistical burden of the Machine army, allowing more units to be in the field for longer durations without the need to return for rearming. However, SkyNET did not plan for the eventuality that the Resistance would capture these weapons and use them against it. Incredibly durable, with virtually limitless ammunition and respectable damage against even the latest of SkyNET's machines made these weapons a great asset for the Resistance fighters. This was an unfortunate development for SkyNET of course, and for a brief period it all together stopped fielding Plasma based small-arms, instead beginning to produce more of the older Series 600 Hunter-Killers armed with more conventional weapons such as the M134 Gatling. It was too late, and the Resistance had already captured plenty of the new Plasma weapons. The 'Sixers', as the Resistance frequently called the Series 600s, were easily destroyed by the new advanced weaponry, often before being able to even transmit the signal of its destruction. Once again SkyNET began to produce the Plasma based weapons, though now with concessions built into the design that causes them to be purposefully heavier, bulky, and much less ergonomic to greatly reduce their effectiveness in human hands. The first generation Plasma Weapons are by now almost entirely extinct, with only the heavier designs found on the battlefield. Overview Plasma weapons operate using the same basic principles of a coilgun. A series of powerful magnetic coils accelerate a ball of super-hot Plasma to speeds similar and often exceeding that of conventional ballistic weapons. Though the mass of the projectile is small, they still experience recoil much like a conventional firearm, though the amount of felt recoil can vary greatly depending on the specific model of Plasma weapon. Higher powered weapons tend to experience more felt recoil. Additionally, minuscule imperfection in the weapon's coils can often cause small fluctuations in the magnetic field which often causes what is described as 'shaking', which can be equally detrimental to accurate fire. The projectile is a dense cloud of superhot ionized gas, called Plasma. The temperature and size of the projectile can vary greatly depending on the specific model of Plasma weapon, though it usually at least several thousand degrees. These projectiles are fired at supersonic speeds, which causes them to create a distinct sonic boom as they exit the weapon. Due to the speed of the projectiles, there is often a significant kinetic force imparted in the target in addition to the thermal damage. These projectiles are colloquially referred to as 'bolts' by many Resistance fighters. Plasma bolts typically appear quite bright, even on a sunny day. At night, they can occasionally cause temporary damage to unprotected human eyes. As the bolts are supersonic, they also create quite a bit of noise as they fly through the air, similar to conventional weapons. The most commonly limiting factor for Plasma based weapon systems is the residual heat build up as a result of the firing process. If not managed properly, this heat build up can damage the weapon irreparably, as well as injuring the operator. While Terminators are able to regulate their firing rate to account for this heat build up and prevent it from causing problems, human operators have no such advantage. Semi-automatic models are by nature less unacceptable to overheat than fully automatic Plasma weapons. Some heavy Plasma weapons are designed with cooling systems to help control the heat build-up, whereas the lighter weapons use a simple venting system which expels the hot exhaust gases through a port on the side of the weapon, which can sometimes be hazardous to human operators. Light Plasma Light plasma weapons fire a small plasma bolt, 5mm in diameter. A plasma bolt, although small, radiates an extreme amount of heat. A hit from a light plasma weapon will cause third degree burns. Light plasma is primarily designed to wound humans, although it can kill them. Because of this, light plasma is not extremely effective against terminators, who are generally tougher than humans. While a T-800 will be damaged by light plasma fire, it may take multiple gunmen to fully disable one. *M18 "Blowtorch" *M20 "Scattergun" *M25 "Tempest" *M30 "Canner" *M50-A1 "Spitfire" *M50-A2 "Firefly" *M54 "Burner" *M95 "Pig" Heavy Plasma Heavy plasma weapons fire a much larger plasma bolt easily capable of explosively removing limbs. These weapons are usually used with shock-and-awe tactics due to their intimidating nature. Heavy plasma is most often used by command drones, or advanced terminators. Heavy plasma is far more effective against terminators than light plasma, which is why SkyNET has designed most heavy plasma weapons to be unusable by humans. *S-18 *S-25 *RSB-70 *RSB-80 *RSB-90 Category:SkyNET Category:Server Information Category:Weapons